Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Nuts for nutrition

Last night I was refilling my mason jar with almonds and caught a glimpse of the nutritional information. People always say that certain fats such as nuts and avocado are good for you but they weren't specific with the portions. The rule of thumb I've always gone by is 10-12 almonds is around 100 calories but I was shocked to really read the label on my Costco Whole Almonds...
Nutrition Facts: Per 1/3 cup...or 50g 
Calories - 290
Fat - 25 g
Protein - 11 g
Surprised? I will admit I was too and I wanted to see what a 1/3 of almonds looked like. Here is a photo with my amazing photography skill...it shows a 1/3 of a cup or 35+ almonds...I lost count but that's a lot of nuts!
Don't get me wrong, I am a strong believer that good fats are an important part of any meal plan but it's important to eat them in moderation. If you have man hands vs someone with small hands - each handful of granola or nuts will differ. My recommendation would be to make your own granola, this way you know everything is unsalted or pre-measure your food into baggies. The last thing you want to do is sabotage a good day of cleaning eating without understanding the facts.
Nutritional information can be daunting and change drastically depending on what you are looking at but I always like the sugar to be in single digits, fat to be less than 5 and high protein low sodium. Its also important to look at the amount. Is it half the pack or 1/5 of the pack.
Here is a challenge for those looking to mix up your routine...go to your cupboard tonight and pull 3 of your favorite snacks. From each container take out what you would normally eat (be honest here...you are only cheating yourself) and put in on the counter. Do this with eat item. Then look at the box and measure out how much you eat. Grab a piece of paper and write out what the calories, fat, sodium, sugar and protein is for each of your items. You might think next before purchasing one of your favorite snacks. Maybe opt for an option that has less sugar or pick a new snack all together.
Things to avoid are those silly pre-packaged "100 calorie" snacks. Dump one of those little packets out on the counter and look at it and ask yourself if it really all that satisfying. Wouldn't a big bowl of fruit will a scoop of vanilla yogurt be more filling and satisfying? What about a bunch of veggies and two tbsp's of hummus? Think about all the other amazing things you could eat instead of a few pretzels...really those snacks are about as appetizing as the snacks you get on an airplane....
I decided that since I'm asking you to do this challenge that I shoud do it too but since I don't have any snacks of my own in the house, I'm going to use some of Brett's...Stay tuned!

Have a great Wednesday and have fun with your snacks!

Nic out!


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